The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

For the second time in 25 months, electronics retailer RadioShack has filed for bankruptcy protection. The first time around, The Shack closed just over half of its stores, partnering with Sprint to keep the rest open and preserve thousands of jobs. This week, the company formed to keep the brand going sought permission from the bank to close between one-third and all of its stores.

In bankruptcy documents [PDF] filed with the federal court in Delaware, the Shack’s attorneys detail their plans for remaining stores. Locations were divided into “tranches” according to performance, beginning with 187 stores that began their store closing sales before the bankruptcy filing. The next tier of 365 stores will close by the end of March, and some of these store leases may be transferred to Sprint.

Sprint confirmed on Wednesday that it would be converting “several hundred” former RadioShacks into corporate-run Sprint stores.

That leaves around 1,000 stores that the company hasn’t made any decisions on yet. “Debtors will continue to evaluate options during these [bankruptcy] proceedings,” the bankruptcy documents note. It is possible that the company could liquidate all of these stores.

By the way, if you have any gift cards for RadioShack around, including cards for the original version of the company before the bankruptcy, you have until April 7, 2017 to cash them in [PDF]. That includes cards that were received for a merchandise return or purchased at a RadioShack store or third-party retailer.

Bonus gift cards given out during holiday promotions are now worthless after the Chapter 11 filing, and you won’t receive anything in return for them. However, house-brand products still under the original manufacturer’s warranty will still be covered as long as there are still RadioShack stores to bring them to.

If you want to share any news or information about your local stores, whether you’re an employee or a shopper, feel free to drop us an email. Write to tips@consumerist.com and use the subject line RADIOSHACK or RADIOSHACK WORKER depending on your status.